Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Rabbitte is correct on the first issue. The withdrawal of MLAs' salaries will cause difficulties for a small number of parties whereas other parties will not be much affected. Mr. Peter Hain has said one cannot pay indefinitely salaries to elected members of institutions that have not met for several years, since 2002, and I understand that point. The solution is to end the debate by creating trust and confidence for everybody to be able to make the necessary decisions. A withdrawal of salaries while discussions are ongoing will not help the atmosphere and I hope the Secretary of State does not do that. I believe he is referring to the longer term rather than the shorter term. I do not think he will take the matter further until this round of talks move, hopefully, to a successful position.

The SDLP has briefed us on its proposals for some time and we welcome its positive contribution to the agenda for North-South co-operation and the development of an all-Ireland economy. The proposals are in line with a number of meetings we have had with various groups representing five or six business bodies in the North. The latest one, last week, focused on how co-operation can be enhanced. The main point is grounded in common sense and involves mutual benefits for everybody, North and South. I agree with Mr. Mark Durkan that the question should not be "Why co-operate?" but "Why not?", which is in line with what the Minister for Finance said in his speech in Derry last year.

We already do a lot of work across all policy areas to develop North-South co-operation, and we will closely examine the SDLP proposals to help us develop this further. The best way to do so is to re-establish the North-South Ministerial Council, which I hope will happen soon. In the meantime we will press ahead with co-operation with the British Government. The SDLP proposals are very extensive and include suggestions for new North-South bodies, infrastructure, environmental protection, harmonised tax rates, joint actions and common policies, a wide range of areas. We will closely examine all the proposals.

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